Grey's Anatomy Recap: Mourn This Way

In Thursday’s Grey’s Anatomy, poor Maggie added to the seven stages of grief a new stage that involved jumping back into work too quickly and putting at risk not just a patient but a baby patient to boot. Was she able to pull herself together before her delicate operation fell completely apart and gave her a new reason to weep? Was the crisis really as bad as the promos made it look? Read on.

‘WE’RE MORE ALIKE THAN WE REALIZE’| As “What’s Inside” began, Amelia and Meredith bonded as they accompanied Maggie to her mom’s grave (which was, oddly, in Seattle); Pierce volunteered on her first day back at work to operate on the unborn baby of Owen’s friends, Leo and Janet; Arizona was caught by Nathan arriving at Grey Sloan with Eliza and confided in him that they hadn’t merely been carpooling; Stephanie was tasked with treating Isaac, who was admitted with symptoms that suggested menopause (ha); and Meredith told Alex, who was especially grumpy-old-mannish, that, since Maggie seemed OK, there was no reason for her to put off going on her dinner date with Nathan. Shortly, Leo and Janet heard that Owen was concerned about Maggie operating on their fetus, so they tried to go back to Plan A — having Nathan operate. But Pierce pleaded her case, and in the end, Janet decided she wanted her to perform the surgery.

When Owen continued to fret, Meredith assured him that Maggie was fine. Hell, Grey had operated through a miscarriage, she noted. Just before Pierce headed into the O.R., she was approached by Mer and Amelia, who, spooked by Hunt, questioned whether, having just lost her mom, she was ready to handle the “tiniest heart [she’d] ever operated on.” Naturally, Maggie took offense and told them that, the same way she always did for them, this was the moment when they should be reminding her of how awesome she is. She hadn’t been worried before, but “now I am a little worried,” she admitted. As the surgery began, the gallery filled up — Mer, Amelia, Owen, Jackson, Nathan… Unfortunately, with all of Maggie’s colleagues watching, doubting her, after she removed the tumor and the baby began decompensating (whatever that meant, it wasn’t good), she froze.

‘YOU’RE JUST NOT THAT SPECIAL’| Sure that, as an intern, Isaac was just looking to be diagnosed as having an exotic condition, Stephanie decided to shame him out of the ER by calling in DeLuca, who passed on the chance to do the rectal exam. Fine, said Edwards. “Roll over, baby!” In the end, it turned out that something was wrong with Cross — he had diverticulitis. In surgery, Stephanie, April and DeLuca discovered that no, in fact, Isaac had abdominal tuberculosis. Since the residents were chicken to be exposed to T.B., Kepner kicked them out and paged Ben. Later, they learned from Isaac that he’d spent a month in India recently. “Nobody noticed I was gone?” he asked before telling Stephanie how sexy she is. (But don’t tell Jo, he added, the effects of the anesthesia kinda cute on him.) In the end, Edwards beat herself up for diagnosing Isaac with “internitis,” and Richard praised her for acknowledging that she’d been wrong, which not everyone — in other words, Bailey (see below) — would.

‘I WAS NOT WRONG’| Though Bailey and Richard were back on speaking terms, and she was pleased that he’d begun working well-ish with Eliza, he kept waiting for her to admit that she had been wrong about bringing in Minnick (or at least wrong about the way she brought in Minnick). Later, Ben suggested to his wife that what Webber was wasn’t obstinate, he was lonely. So, at last, Bailey admitted she was wrong — on two conditions. First, she’d only do so over dinner. And second, Richard also had to admit that he was wrong — and go back to his wife.

‘DO NOT BE SPOOKED’| As the episode neared its conclusion, Amelia refused to see Leo and Janet, insisting they were just Owen’s friends. Arizona guessed that the woman Nathan had a date with worked at the hospital, then guessed that it was Mer, which shocked her. “That girl’s heart beat for Derek Shepherd,” she blurted out before realizing how badly she was gonna shake Riggs’ confidence. “That man turned her world!” Before Mer could leave for the date, anyway, Maggie came home in tears, desperately missing her mom. When Nathan showed up on Mer’s doorstep, she blew him off, saying she had people to take care of in her life, and he wasn’t one of them. (Which seemed a little excessively harsh, if you ask me.) After Mer helped Maggie dance away the blues — even Amelia got to smile for a change — Jackson came by with Diane’s medical records, which proved she’d lied to both of them about how long she’d known she was sick. He also had a bunch of pictures of Diane doing wild things — skydiving included — before she passed. She’d given them to him to give to Maggie, because “she knew I’d do my best to take care of you,” he said, “and she was right.” By the time Mer stuck her head out the door to check on Maggie on the porch, she was resting her head on Jackson’s shoulder.

So, what did you think of “What’s Inside”? Do you suspect Maggie and Jackson will become more than friends? Didn’t you think Mer was kinda mean to Nathan? Or was he being insensitive about Maggie? Hit the comments.